Learn About | Animal Keepers

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an Animal Keeper at the Museum? Animal Keepers need to be nutritionists, record keepers, landscapers, mathematicians, researchers, plumbers, trainers, behaviorists, psychologists, recyclers, veterinary technicians, educators, problem solvers, and of course, pooper scoopers. Perhaps the most important thing Animal Keepers need to do is be good teammates.

 

What a Keeper Does

a Museum Keeper weighs a sheep As you might guess, the day starts as expected with getting food ready for the animals, checking on the animals to see if everything is okay, cleaning up after them, resetting their exhibits, feeding them again, watching their behavior, and writing down notes to share with teammates.

The teammates are seven full-time Animal Keepers, caring for about 150 animals ranging about 60 species. We’re a small team, so Keepers don’t specialize: we don’t have a “bear Keeper” or a “snake Keeper.” The team counts on each other to get everything done. A Keeper needs to be a good observer or record keeper so that notes will communicate well to teammates, and so that an animal’s health record tells the veterinarian what he or she needs to know.

Keepers need to be good at measuring exact doses of medicines. Most medicines given to the animals are weight dependant. The bear does not receive the same amount of Panacur dewormer as would be administered to the screech owl. If the math isn’t right, an animal could become sick, or even die. Even food is specifically selected for the different species that eat it and is weighed out, sometimes to the gram.

Keepers also have to be able to fix things on the fly, like get grass to grow underneath 300-pound bears that walk on it or even eat it.

Observing the Animals

Keepers use the following six sets of questions for observing as they carry out their daily routines:

  1. Animal: Watch it. Is it behaving as it should?
  2. Food: Did the animal eat as usual? (followed by feeding the right kinds of food in the right amounts)
  3. Water: Did the animal drink? Are the pumps and pools working as they should? (followed by giving the animals water)
  4. Containment: Is exhibit intact and secure? Is maintenance needed?
  5. Cleanliness: Is the environment clean? (followed by cleaning and disinfecting, removing unwanted items, resetting the exhibit)
  6. Enrichment: Is the animal responding to enrichment? (followed by new enrichment, remove yesterday's and make notes in the log). What's enrichment? Enrichment is everything Keepers do to stimulate animals to exhibit their natural behaviors and give them choices. Variety is key — animals will get bored with the same old thing.